Charging voltage indication of alternator life remaining?

[Smokey Eddy]

My alternator is charging at 13.95 volts quite steadily. Drops down to 13.90 if i rev it up a bit.
That's with everything off but the running headlights.
That to me seems a bit low considering my battery charger charges at 14.8 volts.
Opinions?
I just replaced the starter and I want to get the alternator out of the way - i just want some sort of guess as to how immediately i should replace it.

i have no idea how old it is.
at least 6 years old or 100,000 km

[the caveman]

Normal charging voltage should be 13.85-14. You should be okay. Except in cases of complete failure i would think the amperage will drop off first.

[8v-of-fury]

Seems good to me, replace it when it breaks Btw just had to do some work on the gf's 90.. and it has that self tightening bolts on the top of the alternator.. I immediately remember the pain it gave you when i stripped it trying to tighten it lol :p

[catlin_cava]

Change it when it breaks, but keep a spare , Mine had 419K on it when it decided it was time to end its life as part of my car lol

[the caveman]

That's why it's nice to have car with a Bosch alternator with the replaceable regulator/brushes. 85% of the time it cures a no charge situation.

[79rabbit4dr]

That's why it's nice to have car with a Bosch alternator with the replaceable regulator/brushes. 85% of the time it cures a no charge situation.

Are the Motorola generators non-serviceable? I've got a couple sitting around that I might take to a local guy that is very good, and cheap.

In general, anything from 13.5VDC to 15VDC is acceptable output.

[Vincent Waldon]

And it's gonna vary with load and temperature as well (not really a precision device)... no reason to be concerned until it can't maintain 13.5V under full load.

[Smokey Eddy]

Okay, thanks for the replies guys.
My concern was raised by how furiously my charger would charge the battery after i'd been driving it normally. I have a "smart" charger that will charge anywhere from 2-12amps and it gives out a rough guess as to how full the battery was and it would always say 60% after driving it daily for a week or so.
I recently added a bumpin sound system and my friend standed himself, well... both of us... a couple times in his '87 prelude when he decided Radiohead and Oasis would sound better with 2 10 inch JL's.
I have the same subs as he did but with a higher wattage amp for them.
i have a 1000 4 channel + 1800mono channel and in the winter only i have two 100w hella spot lights on my roof rack that i sometimes use. i have not used all of these at once yet though.

my headlights don't dim with the music which makes me think the alt is still keeping up.